Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Shield of His Covenant

Juliet and I had the bounty of being invited to attend a study of Ruhi Book 8 at the home of Rhea and Jeff Kester.(More about their incredible home in a later post) We had a fantastic time and were privileged to share some crafting ideas, with a great group of people.

Aniela, one of our tutors had asked if we could come-up with a craft project based on the idea of a shield, as used by Abdul Baha in the opening sentence of his Will and Testament

“All-praise to Him Who, by the Shield of His Covenant, hath guarded the Temple of His Cause from the darts of doubtfulness, ……….”

So! The task given our fellow participants was to make a shield, and like medieval knights, decorate it with a coat of arms, representing what they individually understood by, “The Covenant”.

Materials:• Poster board, cardboard, or like material to make the shield.• Various stickers• Gems• Quotes• Markers• Pencils• Rulers• Scissors• Glue Sticks• White or school glue• Sheets of paper• Any other decorative “stuff” you have available

I also made some shield templates from cereal boxes, (or you can use the cardboard from the boxes as the actual shield). When I was cutting them out Juliet quipped, “Now you can tell everyone you are a cereal crafter” – Bom! Bom!

As you will see from the picture there was a lot of talent on display, some people used the templates others custom made their shields. (Azi and Alek made large ones and Azi even “rigged” hers’ so that she could carry it on her back.

After the shields were made and decorated we came together again in the main room and everyone explained their design.

All-praise to Him Who, by the Shield of His Covenant, hath guarded the Temple of His Cause from the darts of doubtfulness, Who by the Hosts of His Testament hath preserved the Sanctuary of His Most Beneficent Law and protected His Straight and Luminous Path, staying thereby the onslaught of the company of Covenant-breakers, that have threatened to subvert His Divine Edifice; Who hath watched over His Mighty Stronghold and All-glorious Faith, through the aid of men whom the slander of the slanderer affects not, whom no earthly calling, glory and power can turn aside from the Covenant of God and His Testament, established firmly by His clear and manifest words, writ and revealed by His All-glorious Pen and recorded in the Preserved Tablet.

5 comments:

Thanks be to God that we were able to create a learning environment that was at once mystical, loving, rich in consultation, the arts were held in high regard, souls communed with their Lord, and all left awe struck at the Power of the Living Covenant. Thank you to each of the friends. . . Thank you to Jim and Juliet for all you did to make this time so fruitful. This one is humbled. . .

"All Art is a gift of the Holy Spirit."

"All Art is a gift of the Holy Spirit. When this light shines through the mind of a musician, it manifests itself in beautiful harmonies. Again, shining through the mind of a poet, it is seen in fine poetry and poetic prose. When the Light of the Sun of Truth inspires the mind of a painter, he produces marvellous pictures. These gifts are fulfilling their highest purpose, when showing forth the praise of God."(Compilations, The Importance of the Arts in Promoting the Faith)